It would be unrealistic to expect any side to play well every week. The key to success for any manager is to limit those bad days at the office to a minimum.

It sounds obvious, of course. But as we have seen only a few miles over the road on the other side of the river, it is a lot easier said than done.

Having the motivational abilities to halt bad runs quickly is one of Bristol Rovers boss Darrell Clarke's biggest strengths. He pulled no punches on his players after a "lethargic" performance at Port Vale.

They responded with a dominant display against Scunthorpe United last Saturday before producing an even better one at Bolton Wanderers on Tuesday night.

It was the same at Shrewsbury in December when the players bounced back from their worst performance of the season by thrashing Coventry City 4-1; the same at Northampton when they won 3-2 days after losing at Sheffield United; and the same when winning 2-1 at home to Fleetwood soon after losing to Peterborough.

Rovers have only suffered back-to-back defeats on three occasions this season – and only once if you isolate league games – and that is the sort of resilience that all successful sides need.

Darrell will know, of course, they are still far from the finished article. He is forever saying that "in this game you've never cracked it".

They need to start scoring more goals – and the sequence of draws they are currently in – even though against good opponents – has seen them slip off the pace in the chase for a top six finish.

I don't think anyone would argue that it is getting more difficult, but with winnable games ahead of them I am not ruling out the possibility of them going on a run.

We are also getting to that stage of the season where it is easier to be the chaser than the chased. Teams at the bottom start picking up unexpected points from those near the top as the pressure starts to tell going into the final weeks of the season.

You can look at the sequence of draws in two ways. They have potentially dropped 12 points – but there is more to it than that. They have more than held their own against four teams from the top six and I'm sure that is what Darrell will be drilling into his players to continue building their confidence. If they can maintain the standard of performance they showed on Tuesday night then this season for them is not over by a long shot.